Chaotic, messy, and horribly mind-numbing...
Comment
12/12/09
Shorts (2009)
45
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:89
Fresh:40
Rotten:49
Average Rating:5.2/10
Consensus: Shorts has imagination and energy, but most viewers beyond elementary school will likely tire of the kiddie humor and sensory overload.
Theatrical Release:Aug 21, 2009 Wide
Box Office: $20,875,468
Synopsis: Shorts is set in the suburb of Black Falls, where all the houses look the same and everyone works for BLACK BOX Unlimited Worldwide Industries Incorporated, whose Mr. Black’s BLACK BOX is the... [More]
Starring: Jon Cryer, William H. Macy, Leslie Mann, James Spader
Director: Robert Rodriguez
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Reviews for Shorts
Yes, it's definitely made for the much younger set, but it also has quite a few zany little off guard touches, resulting in genuine laughs for anyone who can appreciate the humor.
12/07/09
...what poignancy is served injecting heavy messages about parenting... into a movie which glorifies the suburban existence, makes light of bullying, and gratuitously employs property destruction for comic effect?
12/06/09
...a mishmash of slapstick fights, tiny green men, galumphing alligators, nose picking, giant booger monsters, and endless silliness.
11/20/09
Shorts is constantly pinballing back and forth, from one thing to the next, in such a hyperactive fashion that one wishes it would just slow down a bit.
11/19/09
A fun trifle -- essentially, a homemade 'Little Rascals' update in which youngsters with a 'wishing rock' wreak accidental havoc (and create upright crocodiles, a giant dung beetle, a 'big bad booger' monster and an intellectual telepathic baby).
11/06/09
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10/02/09
Exactly the sort of kid-in-a-candy-store experience you'd expect.
09/14/09
Good clean fun is what Robert Rodriguez delivers in this energetic and inventive film about wishes and being connected.
09/10/09
Boy, is this dumb. I mean in the way that something can be so silly and disgusting it's dumb.
09/05/09
That potential is not realized in "Shorts" primarily because of the chaotic structure of the story, which lurches back through a series of disjointed flashbacks.
09/02/09
Dives straight into whiz-bang gizmoland, opting for “pause, rewind” flourishes. Cute and enjoyable family fare, then, if a little forced.
09/01/09
It's a vacuous feature, devoid of any charms; a cartoon mishmash missing fizz and ingenuity to make it bearable to any audience member crazy enough to evolve beyond a fascination with nostril functions.
08/30/09
This is a movie only an 8 year old could make up, or Robert who seems to be insanely connected to his kids. And that's a wonderful thing.
08/29/09
A movie aimed at kids which will have adults complaining it isn't short enough
08/25/09
This loud and energetic work won't add much value to family frolic films and messages that warn one to be careful what you wish for.
08/25/09
Although it's a film that's constructed around wish-fulfilment gone awry and a series of madcap chases, Shorts also has a heart. Rodriguez's best kids film yet.
08/24/09
In the Disneyfied dumbed-down marketplace for kids' films, there's something daring and even refreshing in a movie which messes with conventional narrative. If only it wasn't so frantic.
08/24/09
It’s like a pre-teen Pulp Fiction.
08/24/09
The special effects aren’t up to scratch and the scrappy, episodic conceit detracts rather than enhances.
08/24/09
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